portaventura

The Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) – which runs the Catalan Government – and the opposition Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) - which does not support the self-determination vote – have reached an agreement on the new legal framework to develop the macro-resort BCN World. This project, promoted by Veremonte and located in Salou (Costa Daurada), has already announced some of its international partners, but in order to attract the rest of the investors needed and start construction, the legal framework on gambling and the area’s town planning had to be upgraded. After months of talks, the CiU has finally closed a deal with the PSC, instead of doing it with the Left Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC), with whom it is promoting the self-determination agenda. The $6-billion BCN World will create some 17,000 jobs and will have mega-casinos, hotels, luxury shops, conference centres and beach clubs, among other things.

Catalonia’s PortAventura and Ferrari have reached an agreement to build a new area dedicated to the illustrious sports cars, expanding the current amusement park. Thanks to an over €100 million investment, ‘Ferrari Land’ will open in 2016 with 75,000 m² at its disposal. Visitors will discover several attractions designed for fans of the Italian brand, including a vertical accelerator announced as the highest and fastest in Europe. ‘Ferrari Land’ will also host the first Ferrari themed hotel, which will offer 5-star accommodation in 250 rooms. The Italian company had already opened a dedicated theme park in Abu Dhabi named ‘Ferrari World’, which was met with much success among fans of the prancing horse. The new amusement facilities will be built next to 'BCN World', a $6 billion resort that will open next to PortAventura, with hotels, conference centres, casinos, theatres and golf courses.

PortAventura will be launching new attraction ‘Angkor: Adventure in the Lost Kingdom’ this year to coincide with the start of the 2014 season in early April. The new attraction will allow visitors to embark on a 300 meter boat trip through the Asian jungle, designed to simulate the historic Cambodian temple: Angkor Wat. The attraction is located in the China area of the park, near Shambhala, Europe´s highest rollercoaster. The new attraction is a replicate of the temple, which is said to be the largest religious structure in the world. Meanwhile, the park will host Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Kooza’ show during the summer months.

Italian Investindustrial has sold 49.9 % of its stake in PortAventura amusement park to KKR, a US investment fund. With this operation Investindustrial has incorporated a long-term partner in the project, while making sure to be the majority shareholder with 50.1 %. The transaction will be effective in January 2014 and is only awaiting regulatory approvals. In the long-term strategy, PortAventura is looking for other agreements to broaden the range of leisure activities and develop further at international level. A few weeks ago it was made public that Investindustrial would join the BCN World project by building and managing 3,000 hotel rooms. Besides, it has been announced that the Cirque du Soleil would give daily shows in PortAventura from the summer of 2014.

The International Golf Travel Market (IGTM) fair takes place this week in PortAventura, located near Salou and Tarragona, at the Catalan Costa Daurada. By hosting this event, the world’s most important fair in the sector, the Province of Tarragona, and more specifically the Costa Daurada, aims at becoming a favourite destination for golf fans from all over the world. The fair is attended by 350 companies from 65 different countries and 1,400 professionals. The seven golf clubs in the Costa Daurada see the fair as a perfect opportunity to multiply by 3 the number of international tourists within the next two years, reaching up to 100,000 visitors. This type of tourism has a high purchasing power and an all year round season.

The Italian investment group has announced it will build and manage 3,000 of the 6,000 hotel rooms of the ‘BCN World’ mega resort, the competitor to Madrid’s Eurovegas that is being developed by Veremonte in Salou (Costa Daurada). The $6 billion entertainment resort will be located next to the beach and the PortAventura theme park, which is owned by Investindustrial. After a year of talks, the Italian company has finally decided to join the mega resort project, which will have casinos, hotels, convention centres, luxury shops, restaurants, golf courses and a beach club. The CEO of ‘BCN World’, Xavier Adserà, confirmed that the resort will begin building in the first half of 2014, employing 17,000 people. The hotel group Melià, shopping-mall company Value Retail and casino group Melco Crown Entertainment will build the first phase.

On Thursday, the Catalan Government published the new legal project for the area where ‘BCN World’ will be built, in order to modify the existing town-planning project and other rules. In addition, it will also modify the current taxes on gambling, dropping them from a maximum rate of 55% to 10%. The modification of such taxes was one of the changes the Catalan Government had promised international investors in order to develop the mega resort, which will see the construction of 6 casinos and hotels the size of those in Las Vegas. In addition, the resort will have golf courses, a beach club, a marina, a smart residential city area, shopping centres, theatres, conference centres and other attractions. Two weeks ago, the first three international investors participating in the project were announced. Plans are to start construction of the first casino in September.

Investindustrial, PortAventura’s only shareholder since last November, will invest €75 million in enlarging the park’s facilities within the next five years. The amusement park, located in the Costa Daurada in Southern Catalonia, near Salou and Tarragona, has already been enlarged over the last few years adding the water park Caribe Aquatic next to the beach and several adjacent hotel resorts. Furthermore, the Italian group will change the park’s brand to: ‘PortAventura: European Destination Resort’. Investindustrial aim to reach 5 million visitors per year, half of which will come from abroad. As a start, the Italian group is investing €10 million in new projects for this new season, which will kick off on the 22nd of March.

The Catalan theme park PortAventura, located on the Costa Daurada, between Tarragona and Salou, will be completely controlled by Investindustrial, a fund run by the Bonomi family. Portaventura is the only profitable theme park in Spain and one of only a few in Europe. Investindustrial is buying the remaining 50% of the park for €105 million. Furthermore, they have announced a future investment of €80 million to foster the park’s international expansion. PortAventura is located next to the land where the €6 billion mega-resort Barcelona World will be built. The Italian group has a consolidated trajectory of investing large amounts of capital in businesses from a wide range of sectors to ensure growth.

‘Barcelona World’, located next to Salou’s beaches and PortaAventura, will have 6 new theme parks, as well as 12,000 hotel rooms, casinos, convention centres, golf courses and other amusement facilities. 10 million people are expected to visit the mega-resort funded by Veremonte each year, which will create 40,000 jobs. ‘Barcelona World’, located next to Tarragona in the Costa Daurada, will be Europe’s largest amusement resort and among the world’s largest, targeting family and business tourism. Construction may be complete by late 2016. The project has been announced after the expiration of the offer made to Las Vegas Sands to build its casinos next to Barcelona. This American company has not announced if it will finally build ‘Eurovegas’ in Madrid yet, but the Barcelona option seems to be ruled out.

From Sunday to Wednesday, the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), located in Tarragona, hosted a chemistry conference in order to discuss the latest discoveries in this discipline. Six chemistry Nobel Prize winners participated in the ‘Southern Catalonia Nobel Campus’, as well as Finn Kydland, who won the Nobel Prize of Economics in 2004. Kydland gave the opening speech. The chemistry days took place at the PortAventura conference centre, located next to the Costa Daurada amusement park.

The Catalan theme park PortAventura opened its doors last weekend for the new season. Despite the crisis, in 2011 the park registered 16% more visitors than in 2010, reaching 3.7 million in total. The park’s CEO, Fernando Aldecoa, has said they expect to reach 4 million visitors this season, which ends just after Halloween. This season, €25 million has been invested in a new rollercoaster called ‘Shambhala’, which will be the tallest in Europe and will reach speeds of 134 km per hour during a fall of 78 metres.

The Catalan theme park, located on the Costa Daurada next to Tarragona, will invest 25 million euros building the new attraction, which will be 76 metres high and will emulate the Himalaya. In addition, users will reach a speed of 134 km/h. The new rollercoaster’s name and exact design are still a mystery, but it will cross the Dragon Khan four times. The Catalan President assisted in the ceremony of the laying of the first stone. The attraction will be ready in May 2012.